Blood bank scraps plans for new vCJD transfusion safeguard

A NEW filter designed to reduce the risk of transmitting variant CJD via a blood transfusion has been scrapped by the blood bank after fears were raised by the manufacturer that it might not be working properly.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) suspended clinical trials of its use on humans at University College Galway last year after the manufacturer warned that subsequent animal studies cast doubt on the efficacy of the product.

“We were desperately disappointed because we thought we were only a few months away from having a fully vCJD-safe red cell and we would have been the first to have had that,” IBTS national medical director, Dr William Murphy said yesterday.

Dr Murphy said a second company had a filter that should be available for a repeat clinical trial later this year and the manufacturer of the first filter hoped to increase its efficacy by the year end.

At the launch of the blood bank’s annual report for 2005, Dr Murphy said the IBTS was optimistic a new clinical trial could begin in the autumn.

Dr Murphy said the IBTS was anxious to have the new safety measure in place as quickly as possible because it was known that vCJD was transmissible by blood transfusion.

The blood bank now hoped to be in a position to be able to filter red cells in March of next year.

Dr Murphy pointed out that about €15,000 had been spent on the first trial. The IBTS has estimated that the screening programme would cost between €10 million and €15m a year.

Ireland is expected to be the first country in Europe to introduce the screening programme. Britain is expected to be next to introduce a similar system.

While Ireland’s risk of vCJD was much lower than Britain’s, it was still significant, said Dr Murphy.

“There is a huge public mandate in this country for obvious reasons for blood safety. So we have always had an aggressive programme towards vCJD. We do take measures that others do not,” he said.

IBTS chief executive, Andrew Kelly, also revealed that the IBTS was investigating the possibility of freezing up to 6,000 units of blood in advance of an avian pandemic.

The blood bank had also arranged the delivery of the flu vaccine in September that could be issued to staff and their families, where appropriate, to ensure that the service could continue.

It was also learned that Tánaiste and Health Minister Mary Harney, has written to the IBTS saying that she supports the building of a new €32m blood centre in Cork. The IBTS now intends updating its original design submitted in 2003 before seeking funding for the project.